Recovering in Natal — Farewell to Nadia, Valentine & Mounira!

We are in Natal, learning the town, fixing things, and generally recovering.

But first, a short quiz for the astrologically inclined:

Don't look ahead! The sun on June 28th is about 23 degrees north of the equator.

The Maggie B is about six degrees south of the equator. When we look at the sun at noon, it is about 29 degrees north or down from overhead.

So, the question is: at noon, where, up north, will someone look at the sun at noon and see it about 29 degrees south or down from overhead? As a clue, 23 degrees north means that the sun is directly overhead Cuba, Oman, and Taiwan.

Natal

Natal is a fast growing town of perhaps a million people. Hard working, rich in parts, poor in parts, and seemingly generally successful. The interior here is reportedly very poor due to long term drought, and has been depopulated. One Brazilian described Brazil as "rich south, poor north, with the dividing line at about Salvador, and Natal the capital of the poor north." Natal has been helped by tourism and the beaches have endless impressive hotels, which are apparently filled in season. June is not the season. Some of the "scene" and the tourist trade has apparently been spoiled by sexual tourism and an active and aggressive prostitution scene. We have not seen any of that, but then have been steered to specific areas (and away from others) by our friends at the Yacht Club.

Today is going to be a big work day.

Our "to do" list has 27 items. Some easy like "reglue paper towel holder" some hard like "clean boat." Our hope is to finish by 4 PM and get a cab to the nicest beach area, the Ponte Negra (note: NOT one of the bad areas mentioned above), which is about 10 KM away, go for a swim and generally hang out and have dinner and reward us for a hard day. Tomorrow we are going to hire a driver and a dune buggy to go exploring the area north of the river, which apparently has fascinating dunes and wild beaches. Then the weekend to finish things up and hopefully off to Salvador on Monday. We are going to head south in short stages, checking out the little out-of-the-way beach towns. At least checking out the beach towns that are accessible by a boat drawing two meters. The coast is rather sketchy, with both electronic and paper charts being rather full of the symbol for wrecks. We should have fun.

As the crow flies, Salvador is about 475 miles. By sea, perhaps 550.

The crew is now down to the hard core:

Frank Blair, Max Hofman and Bori Kiss. Essentially, the Watch Officers from the last leg. The French girls are gone.

Answer to the quiz:

London, North of Newfoundland, Canada, Kiev, Ukraine, Warsaw. So we are getting "less" sun in Brazil that ALL of the US!

All is well.

Location: Yacht Club do Natal
Monday 09:30, 06.26.2006

The Schooner Maggie B anchored off the Yacht Club do Natal at 0930 on June 26, 19 days out of Barbados. The trip log is at 2408 NM, for an average of 127 miles a day, though not always in the direct line. It seems as if we were close hauled on port tack for 99.7% of the time.

The last bit into the Potengi River without a motor was quite difficult. The wind was light, 5-8 knots, getting lighter and more variable, and the current out was about a knot and a half. This was all complicated by the construction in mid stream of a new bridge, making the currents and room to tack rather reduced. We had to anchor in the middle of things for a bit to wait for a bit more breeze, which was also complicated by failure of the windlass. But quick thinking by Max had us "nipping" the chain and pulling it back, length by length to the electric winch, when a bit of a favorable breeze came up. It took us almost an hour to go the mile from the mouth of the breakwater to the Yacht Club.

Once anchored, we were told that we were too far out in the stream and had to tuck in further. As we were launching the Reepicheep, a small Brazilian fishing boat capsized nearby. We rowed over and dragged them in to the beach. Then we rowed our #2 anchor up into the requested position and winched our way out of the way. Then lunch and now we are off to deal with the fabled Brazilian Bureaucracy.

All is well.

Location: 5° 06.0 S, 35° 25.0 W
Sunday 12:00, 06.25.2006

Schooner Maggie B's Noon Position on Sunday, June 25 was 05° 06.0S 35° 25.0 W. As you can see from Google Map, we are about five miles off the beach at Cape Calcanhar, the turning point. The black and white striped lighthouse is very visible through the rain showers. Cape Sao Roque, better known but less important, is another 20 miles south. We currently have tacked off, on a course of 110 degrees at six knots. We are just 40 miles from Natal, but we are beating into a strong SE'erly, so we probably won't be there until after dark.

The mouth of the Potengi River at Natal seems wide and well-marked. There is a nice breakwater at the mouth, inside of which we should be able to anchor for the night. The chart does have a caution about varying currents and shifting shoals, so if it looks chancy when we get there, we'll just hold off for the night and enter at dawn.

Last night was a long one of beating our way down the coast through rain squalls and strings and strings of tiny, impossible-to-detect on radar, fishing boats, all lit up, between showers, by oil platforms and petrochemical works.

Sixteen days and 2333 on the trip log.

All is well.

Location: 4° 27.5 S, 36° 52.8 W
Saturday 12:00, 06.24.2006

The Schooner Maggie B's Noon Position on Saturday, June 24 was 4° 27.5 S, 36° 52.8 W. Our course is 195 degrees at 5.6 knots. The wind is 130 at 12-14. We have 127 NM to go. The trip log is 2177 NM.

Getting around this last Cape -- Calcanhar -- is getting old. As you can see, we have gone 17 times the last distance to Natal, but, due to winds and current, this last is very hard. But we have been out for 15 days and 17 was my estimate a month ago and you have to work the ship, so we will be fine. This Cape is where the coast of Brazil changes from East and West to North and South. The Equatorial Current also splits off here. Once past all will be easier, but we are not there yet.

Last night was a surprise. We worked our way into the coast. We made soundings for the first time in two weeks and sailed in to a depth of 100 feet (we were still 20 miles off the coast) and then put her about to starboard tack. Sailing along the coast at night we were in the midst of dozens of fishing boats. In the last ten days we have seen perhaps three boats, so it was rather a change. Most all carried only a single white light, so it was a bit challenging to determine speed and distance. Being small wooden boats in a fair sea, they didn't show up on radar.

One medium sized motorboat did show up on radar as it came within five miles and we were able to "acquire" it. Acquiring a target on radar means that we can highlight it with a pointer, push a button or two, and the computer will work out the target's course, speed, and closest point of approach. This boat was coming right for us. It was on our right, so in general it would have right-of-way -- we would see their red light and they would see our green. But we are a sailboat, under sail and thus have right of way over a motorboat. But would they realize we were a sailboat? I turned the deck lights on to light up the sails, hoping they would adjust their course to pass behind us. There was an announcement on the radio in Portuguese but Bori, who can speak the language, was asleep. Then they turned on an additional white masthead light. Yike! Two masthead lights in a vertical line means a tow boat! Towing trumps sailing. I spun the Maggie B downwind to avoid the hypothetical barge, though there turned out to be nothing else there, other than a game of "Brazilian one-up."

We expect to be in Natal tomorrow or the next day. Life on board has an "end-of-term at school" feel. I am anxious about how we will be able to find a good place to anchor under sail up the River Potengi, and then all the bureaucratic problems of checking in with the world's worst bureaucracy, getting the supplies we need, getting the Maggie B hauled to put a new propeller on, etc., etc.

All is well.

Location: 2° 53 S, 36° 58.7 W
Friday 12:00, 06.23.2006

The Schooner Maggie B's noon position on Friday 23 June was 02° 53 S 36° 58.7 W. Our course is 220 degrees at 6 knots. We have 204 miles to go to Natal. The wind is 170 degrees at 15-20 and Natal is bearing......170 degrees. We are headed in towards the coast of Brazil, hoping to get a break on the current that is pushing us NW. The coast is about 100 miles away and we should pick up soundings at about ten o'clock tonight. Our trip log is now at 2039 NM.

The current belief is that our feathering propeller, a J-Prop, has somehow eaten its internal gears and now the three blades are essentially free floating. Why? Who knows -- don't think that it was abuse. We just haven't been using it that much. One possibility is that we picked up some sort of trash, which fouled the prop and as worked for us routinely, it had some sort of extra stress which caused it to fail.

We do have a spare non-feathering prop. Depending on technical advice (a fine use for this email system), we may give a try to replace at sea it if we find some quiet spot along the coast before we get to Natal. I remains to be seen. In any case, Natal is spread along a river that looks from the chart to be "friendly" for sailing anchoring. Check out the harbor on Google Earth!

We have plenty of water, plenty of food, but must make port soon as we are running low on chocolate (we are now eating cooking chocolate, horrors). It is amazing to me that on deck it will be a real thrash, with rain and spray in equal (industrial strength) parts, wind blowing 20-30 knots, and down below it will be mostly quiet, warm, dry and the off duty crew will be sleeping soundly.

All is well.

Location: 1° 02.0 S, 36° 18.0 W
Thursday 12:00, 06.22.2006

The Schooner Maggie B's noon position on June 22 was 01° 02.0 S 36° 18.0 W . We are currently headed 235 degrees at six knots with a wind from 170 degrees at 15-30 knots. The 30 knots comes in the regular rain showers that really should be called squalls. You suit up for one and it is over by the time you are all strapped in, you get out of the foulies, settled in and the next one is on you.

We are 283 miles from Natal, still off the coast of Brazil. Fortaleza, Brazil is the nearest town, about 240 miles away. We have come 1930 NM so far.

We are having teething problems. People say that it takes a year or two to settle in a custom boat and we have only been at it for five months since launching and certainly have done a lot in that time. Teething sounds trivial, but I sure remember a lot of crying. Our recurring problem is the attachment for the main throat halyard. It was originally too low and chafed through before Bermuda and then we had some new pieces put on in Antigua and one of them popped off at 0430 this morning, dropping the main a bit and causing us to lower it the rest of the way.

We got things back fixed up with a bit of a jury rig so that the main is up with one reef and it will be fine until we can get a little more work done on the mast when we are next in port. These masts are modern marvels -- strong and light -- but you can't just screw something into them like a wooden mast.

We are also having some concerns about the engine. Somewhere along the line we seem to have gotten some algae in the fuel. We dosed it with algicide in Barbados, but the dead stuff seems to have partially clogged one of the engine filters (yes, the one filter that we don't have a spare for!). The engine still runs, but at reduced RPM. The latest anomaly with the engine is that it runs satisfactorily, the gear box is fine, turning the prop shaft in both directions, but we are getting no thrust at all from the prop. We have a feathering prop, which may be doing something too clever, but the more likely probability is that the prop has come off. When the weather calms down a bit, I'll be going over the side to check. We do carry a spare prop, but no spare prop nut. Things may get interesting.

We have changed our destination back to Natal, to take care of the boat problems before we have fun on "three of the top ten beaches in Brazil." I'm already studying Natal harbor to find a nice open, safe spot to anchor if we have to do it under sail.

Never a dull moment.

Location: 0° 44.0 S, 37° 54.0 W
Wednesday 12:00, 06.21.2006

The Schooner Maggie B's noon position on June 21 was 0° 44.0 S 37° 54.0 W. "S" means SOUTH! It is so strange that we crossed to the Southern Hemisphere on the very day that the Northern goes into Summer and the Southern goes into Winter.

We finally got our wind shift this morning. Twelve days waiting for it. The wind is now 160 degrees at 10-12 and we are headed about 105-110 degrees at 6 1/2 knots. Fernando de Norunha is 375 miles away and we are about 240 miles off the Brazilian coast. We have now about a knot of head (adverse) current and the seas have laid down a lot. The weather is lovely - scattered clouds and enough breeze to sail perfectly balanced, but no spray on deck or rain showers. Last night we did have a heavy rain with winds up to 30 knots.

We crossed the Equator last night at about 2000. I was temporarily absent, but I understand that King Neptune came aboard to interview, test, mark and accept all five polliwogs, who are now true schoonermen shellbacks. Bori somehow took some scary pictures, which will be posted on the web site as soon as we get some connectivity.

We are now in a lovely topsail breeze with all plain sail up. It is strange to be on the starboard tack after the better part of two weeks on port.

Lunch today was Wahoo fish cakes. We have had it raw, grilled, in a stew and now in fish cakes. One more meal of it left and the competition is on for another recipe.

All is well.

Photos!

Click here to view all the Bori photos from The Maggie B...

En route to Fernando de Noronha: Pamuk, Steinbeck & “Le Grande Secret”

The Captain is reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. Mounira and Nadia are reading Steinbeck's A l'Est d'Eden aloud to each other and Valentine just finished "Le Grande Secret" which is about a great secret (an immortality drug).

Location: 0° 39.8 N, 38° 30.3 W
Tuesday 12:00, 06.20.2006

The Schooner Maggie B's noon position on 20 June was 0° 39.8 N, 38° 30.3W. We are headed 175 degrees at six knots, sailing under one reef in both main and fore and the jib partially furled/reefed. She balances perfectly, with zero rudder. The wind is from 120-130 at 15-22 knots, with a fairly sloppy 8-10 foot sea, increased in confusion by a 1/2 to one knot northerly (favorable) current. We are thrashing along in a less than elegant fashion, but now after 13 days, essentially all close-hauled on port tack, we are all accustomed to it, and know just when to reach out and catch the espresso pot as it hurtles across the galley.

Fernando de Noronha is 435 miles away. We will probably keep these conditions the rest of the way unless we get some sort of unexpected break. We should be there in perhaps four days. The trip log is 1670 NM.

Fish stew is simmering away on the stove, with the last of our tomatoes, lots of onions, frozen fresh peas, canned corn and lots of herbs.

Neptune should arrive on board this evening, if he can grab on as we slip and slide across the line. The polliwogs are increasingly nervous.

All is well.